The invention relates to hand held labeling machines of the kind used in supermarkets and other stores to apply self adhesive labels to articles for displaying the price of the article and other information. Subsequent to applying such labels to articles, the latter are placed upon shelves so as to be accessible to consumers. These shelves have affixed thereto self labels that have a bar code thereon that identifies the article to be placed thereon. Most articles also have a bar code printed on them that is used for identification purposes. These bar codes are standardized by the Uniform Code Council for the purpose of identifying each article by a unique bar code.
Such hand held labeling machines, hereinafter referred to as labelers, have a receptacle for a supply of labels to be printed, a print head, control mechanism for selecting data to be printed by the print head, and mechanism actuatable to effect printing of a label by the print head with the selected data and advancement of the printed label to a dispensing position from which it can be dispensed for application to an article. At the same time, another label is advanced to the location of the print head for the next operation.
In such labelers, the labels are fed from a roll mechanically in response to manual actuation of a lever associated with a handle, and the printing operation is effected mechanically by means of inked printing elements.
More recently, electronic labelers having keyboards that electronically reset the print head have become commercially available.
Obviously, it would be advantageous to provide such labelers with alternative means for resetting the print head and take advantage of the bar codes that appear on articles and shelf labels.
This invention, accordingly, has an object the provision of a labeler which is easier to employ than known labelers at least in that it does not require repeated manual input.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a labeler which can be employed with a minimum of physical effort.
It is moreover an object of the invention to provide a labeler with an optical reading device for reading information in the form of bar code or OCR for effecting setting of the print elements of a print head.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a labeler with an optical reader whereby data may be input to the labeler upon scanning of an encoded object.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide an electronic hand held labeler which may be operated by the use of only one hand.
It is another object of this invention to provide a labeler whose print head may be set quickly.